True Ancestor

Unique existences even among the vampires, the True Ancestors (真祖, Shinso?) are incarnated nature spirits (akin to the Elementals). They are vampiric creatures from birth, however, unlike the Dead Apostles and other blood-sucking species, the root of their bloodlust is psychological rather than physical. Also, because they are part of nature, they can use the power of Marble Phantasm to change the world around them according to their thoughts. They can be classified as a type of greater fairy and their Foundation is of a Mystery that cannot be reached through magecraft.[1] They are said to be Planet-class Spirits, a rank higher than Divine Spirits.[2]

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At an undetermined point of time in the past, Gaia, the will of the planet, suffered with the indiscriminate corruption that humans caused in the environment. Because at the time it lacked the means to defend itself from humans, Gaia sent a plea to the other celestial bodies for help, on the criteria that only a planet is able to correctly judge another of its kind.

The one who answered Gaia’s plea was Brunestud of the Crimson Moon who offered a pact to the planet: in exchange of being allowed to live on Earth, Crimson Moon would allow the creation of a self-defense mechanism for the planet based on him. From this pact between the Ultimate One of the moon and the will of the Earth the True Ancestors were born as a Counter Force with definite form, created for the purpose of returning the planet to its original state, before the corruption caused by humans.

Despite their origins as anti-human entities, Alaya does not see the True Ancestors as targets. That is because the True Ancestors are extensions of the world, mediators of nature, before being enemies of humanity. However, differently from Divine Spirits, they are supernatural beings born from the world without the interference of people. That which is desired by the planet but not by humanity is bound to fade from the observable world and decline in numbers. When Arcueid Brunestud was born in the 12th century, the True Ancestors had decreased to a mere hundred, from which the majority were killed when the White Princess went berserk.

While the birth of a True Ancestor goes along the lines of a natural phenomenon that happens when needed, Arcueid’s case was more of an artificial occurrence premeditated by the other True Ancestors. And yet her appearance is special among the True Ancestors as she was created with a female body which is rare among the True Ancestors, probably because the original Crimson Moon had a male body. Their reason behind this was quite simple: they wanted the advent of a stronger, more perfect existence that would be capable of hunting down their fallen brothers (the Demon Lords) and their renegade children (the Dead Apostles).[3]

While being born from nature just as any natural spirits, the True Ancestors are fundamentally copies of the Crimson Moon with minds and bodies modeled after humans, the latter done so under the principle that it would be best for them to resemble those who they are supposed to rule over. Because Crimson Moon was their basis, the True Ancestors not only turned to be detached from nature’s desire of protection from humans but also inherited a terrible flaw from the original: Vampiric Impulses (吸血衝動, kyuuketsu shoudou?).[4]

A purely psychological impulse that pushes them to suck the blood of others, because there is no physical reason behind those impulses there is no definite cure for them. Thus, the True Ancestors need to sleep through their childhood until they are mature enough to have self-control. Normally, an Ancestor cannot dream, but in Arcueid's case, she must dream a little since her meeting with Shiki Tohno.
From that point on, the True Ancestors must use their own powers to keep the impulses in check. That is why, even though they have the capacity to manipulate nature at will, they never fight at 100% as most of their powers is already being used to restrain themselves.

However, because there is no end to the vampiric impulses, they do not disappear and instead accumulate with time. Eventually, those impulses will become too powerful to be restrained and threatens to take over. The only choice left in this case is for the True Ancestors to fall into a deep, eternal sleep. This can be said to be the limit of life of those without a definite lifespan.

There is also the case of the Demon Lords (魔王, Maō?, Devil), fallen True Ancestors who succumbed to their blood thirst and became a threat both to humans and the Ancestors themselves.[5] As they no longer needed to suppress their thirst, they could employ their powers to their full extent and therefore vastly overwhelm their still restrained kin. It was with the purpose of their elimination that the Ancestors caused the birth of Arcueid Brunestud. By the time of Tsukihime, all of them had long been eliminated. It should be noted that despite the name, they are not to be confused neither with the demonic ethereal beings born from human belief, nor with the oriental demons of Japanese folklore known as Oni.

Prior to his death, Crimson Moon took providences to make his return possible. All True Ancestors have a Reality Marble implanted within them. Whenever a True Ancestor attains a level of power close to the original, this implanted seed will allow Brunestud to take over his body. Still, because all True Ancestors are born with the fundamental flaw of bloodlust, he needed to create more perfect successors. And so Brunestud decided to teach them how to make their own kind themselves in order to speed up the creation of a proper vessel for his revival. Arcueid and Altrouge are apparently two of such attempts.

Among the True Ancestors, those who could manifest the Millennium Castle, through their Marble Phantasm ability, were given the title of Brunestud and regarded as royalty. This is the reason why the True Ancestors call Arcueid, who is considered the only successful clone of Crimson Moon, the princess of the True Ancestors. There is also the case of the half-breed princess of the Dead Apostles, Altrouge Brunestud, who is the only known case of a child being successfully born between a True Ancestor and a Dead Apostle. She lacks the normal powers of a True Ancestor, and thus cannot use Marble Phantasm to summon the Millennium Castle or move from one place to another by recreating her body, but she is capable of summoning the Crimson Moon. That is the reason why she is one of the two possible successors of Crimson Moon and why she has inherited the name of Brunestud, but she is generally considered too "unstable". These two are also the only remaining Ancestors alive and active by the time of Tsukihime.

There are different levels of power in the True Ancestor hierarchy, but Arcueid Brunestud is a sublimation on the level of the First True Ancestor, she is beyond the other True Ancestors. But all True Ancestors possess power beyond human comprehension from the moment they are born. There are few who can match them in terms of strength, speed and endurance.

They have the normal vampire claws, and very few conceptual weapons can harm them. All vampires can ignore damage from most sources as their body will revert to the pre-damaged state rapidly, a conceptual weapon such as the Black Keys used by members of the Church nullifies this ability. At night they are almost invulnerable, and their power is at its peak during the full moon.

During the night, all of their lines and points of death disappear, rendering them indestructible; however, they show up again when Shiki "kills" the very nature from which she draws her strength in one of the endings. They can not only regenerate most wounds rapidly, but even re-form their body completely after taking damage, even though it takes the majority of their power to do so. They also have Mystic Eyes that enable limited control over others, such as the ability to plant suggestions. The color of their eyes changes to gold when they are active, thus revealing them as possessing the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment.

The True Ancestors can use Marble Phantasm, which can literally change reality to create any naturally occurring effect. And those who can summon the Millennium Castle Brunestud, the ancestral home of the True Ancestors are counted as their royalty.

The Ancestors receives backup from the planet as part of the Counter Force. They have the ability to increase their fighting power to one level above those they face while drawing upon it, and it is said to be virtually unlimited.
But it is possible to cut them off from this power by killing the land around them or sealing them off from the world through a powerful Bounded Field that rewrites the world by switching the terrain effect with a different terrain effect or a Reality Marble that overwrites the current world. While their connection to nature can be interrupted by any such barrier, the ability to actually cut them off from the supply depends on what is being used as energy to hold up the barrier because the overwritten world generally has an even more colossal world seeping up from underneath it to return it to normal. The only ones who may be able to cut them off from their energy source completely is an alien deploying a Reality Marble.

Faeries [Others]
Ouji Misaya's Familiars.
Originally, Faeries are considered the nature's sense of touch, something that humans cannot perceive.
However, there are indeed some Faeries who were born wearing humans' imagination as shells.
Ouji Misaya's Familiars are false Faeries. They are formless low-rank Spirits possessing the image of woodland Faeries.
They can indeed wield a portion of the original Faeries' powers due to wearing Faerie-like shells.
The Faerie-disguises are thought to be the creation of Misaya's Master rather than hers.
As an aside, true Faeries at the scale of capable of being perceived by humans are called Elementals. A certain white vampire seemed to be of this class.
One more thing, the Foundation of Faeries and Elementals are of a Mystery that cannot be reached through magecraft.

Gatou Monji & Berserker
Gatou Monji is an strange Master that worships Berserker as a God. He is a man that carries various religions so his speech can't be understood. Berserker was originally an spirit from the Earth called "True Ancestor" but, due to Gatou's misconceptions that say "she = God" her status downgraded from Planet to God, making her unable to properly display her abilities. During battle her Noble Phantasm uses gravity as means of attack, causing great damage.

True Ancestor [Term]
A singular existence amongst the bloodsuckers. Characteristically close to elementals.
They were created by the planet, which had no tangible method of self-defense against humans.
Because of this, it could be said that they are nature's sense of touch. However, there was a birth defect. The True Ancestors bore a flaw, the vampiric impulse.
Each and every True Ancestor is burdened with the desire to drink the blood of the very humans they were meant to rule. And, in order to suppress that impulse, they consume their own willpower. Those that can change the state of the world merely be thinking are instead forced to use almost all of those "thoughts" to restrain themselves.
But, everything has a limit. Unable to resolve the problem at its root, the vampiric impulse accumulates, until finally it becomes impossible for them to control with their power alone. True Ancestors that have become unable to control their desires fall into an eternal slumber. It could be said that this is the lifespan of those who have no end.
Year by year their numbers dwindled, until by the time Arcueid was born in the 12th Century, only a hundred individuals remained.
Also, there were those among them that succumbed to their desires and began indiscriminately drinking human blood. Known as Fallen Ancestors (Demon Lords), they are powerful to the point that it is said to be completely impossible for humans to oppose them.

Vampiric Impulses [Term]
The base desire possessed by both True Ancestors and Dead Apostles.
In True Ancestors it is merely a bad habit, but in Dead Apostles it is a means of staying alive.
For those Dead Apostles who used to be human, it is something not entirely dissimilar from an expression of love.

True Ancestor [Term]
A singular existence amongst the bloodsuckers. Characteristically close to elementals.
They were created by the planet, which had no tangible method of self-defense against humans. Because of this, it could be said that they are nature's sense of touch. "If mankind is to be ruled, let man be the model." Under this premise, they were created with a mind and body structure similar to humans. However, there was a birth defect. The True Ancestors bore a flaw, the vampiric impulse. Probably, it's because the original that was used as a reference had contained that flaw as well.
Each and every True Ancestor is burdened with the desire to drink the blood of the very humans they were meant to rule. And, in order to suppress that impulse, they consume their own willpower. Those that can change the state of the world merely be thinking are instead forced to use almost all of those "thoughts" to restrain themselves.
But, everything has a limit. Unable to resolve the problem at its root, the vampiric impulse accumulates, until finally it becomes impossible for them to control with their power alone. True Ancestors that have become unable to control their desires fall into an eternal slumber. It could be said that this is the lifespan of those who have no end. Also, there were those among them that succumbed to their desires and began indiscriminately drinking human blood. Known as Fallen Ancestors, they are powerful to the point that it is said to be completely impossible for humans to oppose them.
Their creation was not influenced by human ideas, so they are not a type of Divine Spirit. They are an existence desired by the world, but not by humans. Because of this, they have gradually gone into hiding and dwindled in numbers. Though they have definite form, they can also be considered a kind of Counter Force.
…If you want to know what a Counter Force is, please refer to Kara no Kyoukai.

Brunestud [Term]
Despite being Arcueid's last name, strictly speaking it is actually more like a title. It is possessed by all of the members of True Ancestor royalty.
The Millennium Castle Brunestud where Arcueid had sealed herself away is not her original creation, but was actually created in the past by the most powerful True Ancestor, using marble phantasm. That original lord of Castle Brunestud died long ago, but ever since those True Ancestors capable of forming the castle have been uplifted as royalty. This is why the True Ancestors, who have no concept of hierarchy, nevertheless call Arcueid their princess.
After being tricked by Roa and killing most of the True Ancestors, Arcueid crucified herself on the throne of the castle she materialized herself. A thousand chains stretched from the castle's outer walls to the throne, so that she may seal herself away forever.
In Melty Blood, the Tatari Arcueid materialized the Millennium Castle. Later, in Re-act, it also appeared in her Arc Drive.
Currently, there are only two bloodsuckers with the name of Brunestud: Arcueid and Altrouge.

Crimson Moon [Term]
Another name for the organism that was used as the template for the True Ancestors. Also known as the Crimson Moon Brunestud.
After he vanished, individuals close to him in power started being honored with the title of Brunestud.
However, in the long history of the True Ancestors, only two have ever received the name.